He wasn't on the football team, but he was a Mariner

The Marine City Mariners will wear a purple sticker with the name "Jacob" in it on their helmets at their first game against Algonac Thursday. The sticker is a tribute to Marine City High School student Jacob Lomasney, who died Aug. 17 in a moped crash.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)Buy Photo

Mike Lomasney’s voice is filled with a grief and a weariness any parent would recognize and no parent would want to hear.

Lomasney’s son, Jacob, died Aug. 17 in a moped crash. He and his family will be saying goodbye to the youngest of nine siblings, the baby of the family, at a memorial service at 6 p.m. Thursday in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 67055 Gratiot Ave., Richmond.

Jacob, 16, would have been a sophomore this year at Marine City High School.

“He was like the worst student in the world, but every teacher loved him because he had such a good heart,” Mike Lomasney said. “He never got in trouble.

“He marched to his own drummer.”

Jacob Lomasney(Photo: Submitted by Mike Lomasney)

Members of the Marine City High School football team will be wearing a purple football-shaped sticker with the name “Jacob” on their helmets.

“We’ll wear the sticker on our helmets the rest of the year to have him in our memory,” said Marine City coach Ron Glodich.

Jacob was not a football player. Mike Lomasney said his son was more into non-team activities, such as riding his skateboard and swimming and fishing in the St. Clair River.

“He was just a kid,” Lomasney said. “He was never into the sports so much. He liked being outside.

“He fished all over. He fished in the river for walleye. He fished in the spring for salmon. He fished up north with me.”

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The Marine City Mariners will wear a purple sticker with the name "Jacob" in it on their helmets at their first game against Algonac Thursday. The sticker is a tribute to Marine City High School student Jacob Lomasney, who died Aug. 17 in a moped crash.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)

He said Jacob liked riding his moped.

“Every day — he put over 3,500 miles on it this summer,” Lomasney said. “He worked at Big Boy in Marine City, he was a cook, and between that and his mother’s house and his friends, he was just all over.”

Glodich said it doesn’t matter that Jacob didn't play football, that the students at Marine City High School form a tight-knit community — and he was one of their own.

“A lot of kids on the team were friends with him, especially the JV, sophomore group,” he said. “When you have a small school like this, everybody intermingles.”

The Mariners start their varsity season at 7 p.m. Thursday with a road game against Algonac High School.

Algonac High School athletic director Mitch Landrum said there will be a moment of silence before the game with a tribute to Jacob. Students, players and cheerleaders will be wearing purple armbands, which are available at Scoreboard N More, 624 Michigan St., Algonac

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The Marine City Mariners will wear a purple sticker with the name "Jacob" in it on their helmets at their first game against Algonac Thursday. The sticker is a tribute to Marine City High School student Jacob Lomasney, who died Aug. 17 in a moped crash.(Photo: Brian M. Wells/Times Herald)

Fans and students planned to wear purple to the JV game against Algonac on Wednesday evening at East China Stadium. There was going to be a moment of silence and a balloon release at half-time.

“It’s the least we could do,” Glodich said.

Lomasney said the family was overwhelmed by the support.

“I think it’s unbelievable,” he said. “The whole community outreach has been fantastic.”

He said family members are dealing the best they can with having someone so young and so full of life snatched away so suddenly.

“We have our moments,” he said.

“Jake always lived for the day. He wanted to come work with me. He was interested in working with robotics.

“He had such a good heart.”

He said what he will miss the most is Jacob’s sunny nature.

“I’m his father and I’ve never seen him mad,” he said. “Not one time. Always smiling. The kid woke up with a smile.”

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.

If you go

A memorial service for Jacob Maurice Lomasney, 16, will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 67055 Gratiot Ave., Richmond.